HMS Centaur (R06)

HMS ''Centaur'' was the first of the four light fleet carriers of the Royal Navy. She was the only ship of her class to be completed with the original design configuration of a straight axial flight deck, rather than the newly invented angled flight decks of her three later sister ships. She was laid down in 1944 in Belfast, with the contract being awarded to Harland and Wolff, but not launched until 22 April 1947 due to delays relating to the end of the war. She was commissioned on 1 September 1953, a gap of almost nine years from when she was laid down in 1944.

''Centaur'' saw service throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. Due to budgetary issues ''Centaur'' was not converted to a commando carrier like two of her sister ships. ''Centaur'' was withdrawn from service in August 1965 and sold for scrapping in 1972.

Completion

''Centaur'' was completed with an axial flight deck, marked by a broken white line running down the middle of the entire length of the flight deck. She began her contractor's sea trials in March 1953 and commissioned on 17 September 1953. Her aviation facilities as completed included 2 x BH5 hydraulic catapults at the bow, six arrestor wires, two capacity aircraft lifts, measuring forward and aft. Her single hangar measured , and she had stowage for of AVCAT and Avgas aviation fuel.

Following the completion of her sea and machinery trials in October 1953, she was taken in hand at Portsmouth Dockyard, to be fitted with an interim 5.5-degree angled deck, which was already being added to her as yet uncompleted sister ships, and . This required cutting down the port sheerstrake, re-siting the walkways and removing three twin Bofors guns and their directors. Upon completion of this work in April 1954, she was finally able to join the fleet as the first angled-deck carrier in the Royal Navy and undertook her initial flying trials in the English Channel from May to July 1954.

Operational history

First commission

''Centaur''s first captain, appointed on 13 August 1953, was Captain H.P.Sears, RN, who remained with her until replaced in October 1954, by Captain H.C.F Rolfe, RN, who was to stay with her until the end of her first commission.

''Centaur''s initial air group of 25 aircraft, as embarked in July 1954, consisted of nine Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6 of 806 Squadron, nine Hawker Sea Fury FB11 of 810 Squadron, six Grumman Avenger AS anti-submarine aircraft of 820 Squadron and one Westland Dragonfly HR5 of the ship's flight. ''Centaur'' was initially intended to join the Mediterranean Fleet for a period of four months, before heading east of Suez to relieve as the duty carrier in the Far East. As events transpired however, she was to remain in the Mediterranean until June 1955. Her activities during this period included exercises in company with her sister ship ''Albion'' and NATO allies, embarking British troops during the withdrawal from Trieste in October 1954, escorting the royal yacht during a Royal Tour and numerous visits to friendly ports. Whilst at Malta in February 1955, the Sea Furys of 810 Squadron were disembarked and the squadron later flew back to the UK to be disbanded; they were replaced by nine Sea Hawks of 803 Squadron which were transferred from ''Albion'' in March 1955. The Avenger AS4s of 820 Squadron were similarly replaced by six Avenger AS5s of 814 Squadron.

From June 1955 until January 1956, ''Centaur'' was based in home waters and undertook a range of visits and exercises with other carriers of the fleet. After two months spent in Portsmouth from November 1955, she left for the Far East on 10 January 1956, in company with ''Albion''. Further changes to her air-group saw the Avengers of 814 Squadron replaced by the re-formed 820 Squadron, with six Fairey Gannet AS4s. After passing through the Suez Canal, she visited Aden in February to undertake flying exercises with RAF Venoms based at RAF Khormaksar. This was followed by a visit to India, where the two carriers provided flying demonstrations for the Indian government, who were at that time interested in acquiring an aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy. This eventually resulted in the purchase, the following year, of the incomplete , completed in 1961 to an updated design as . Further exercises were carried out in the Indian Ocean, before heading east to visit Hong Kong and Singapore. She crossed the line for the first time on 26 April ''en route'' back from Singapore to Devonport via Suez and Malta, arriving on 15 May 1956.

Modernisation

In the mid-1950s Government Defence Policy was to maintain a fleet of four active aircraft carriers to meet both NATO and Imperial commitments. In practice this meant a total fleet of five to six ships, allowing for refits, modernisation and training. The rapid advances in naval aviation technology during this period, such as the angled deck, steam catapults and mirror landing sight, coupled with the planned introduction of the new, heavier second-generation jet fighters such as the Supermarine Scimitar and De Havilland Sea Vixen, rendered the existing Carrier fleet obsolescent. Only (completed in 1955), the rebuilt , and under-construction , due to join the fleet in 1958 and 1959 respectively, had the capability to operate the new aircraft. Thus it was decided to rebuild from 1959 to 1964 to the same standard as ''Victorious'' and ''Hermes'', followed by a similar upgrade to ''Ark Royal''. This left a potential period of five years between 1959 and 1964 when a maximum of three carriers would be available. The Admiralty therefore searched for an interim solution to bridge this feared gap.

The design limitations of the three ''Centaur''-class carriers completed in 1953-4 meant that a rebuild to the standard adopted for the other carriers would be difficult, if not impossible. A particular problem was the lack of hangar deck strength, which when the ships were ordered in 1943, was specified to handle aircraft. A fully loaded Sea Vixen FAW1 could weigh up to and the Scimitar up to . This would mean that in operation these aircraft would have to be armed and fuelled on the flight deck. Nonetheless, no other hulls were available, and given the potential "gap", a quick solution was needed. It was therefore decided that one ''Centaur''-class would be given a limited modernisation, to give her the minimum capability to operate these aircraft. ''Centaur'' herself was selected for this purpose in May 1956.

Between June 1956 and August 1958, ''Centaur'' underwent her partial modernisation at Devonport Dockyard. This involved the installation of two BS4 steam catapults forward, the removal of the Bofors guns on the flight deck, improved air operations facilities and the addition of a Type 963 blind-landing radome at the rear of the island. Some work was also done on a further slight extension on the port-side, to enable a six-degree angled flight deck to be used. Her arrestor cables were not upgraded at this stage, however. This was rectified in her 1960–1961 refit, when five arrestor wires were fitted.

Second commission

''Centaur'' recommissioned at Devonport on 3 September 1958, under the command of Captain Horace Law

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